Butterfly crit. Where I take out my anger on 25 other bike racers.

So after the Memorial Day Crit I had thought that I had enough points to get my Category 2 (aka semi-pro) upgrade on the road. So I sent in my upgrade request, and got to training. I was riding high for three days, thinking things like: these are the legs of a semi pro racer. I'm a semi pro. I've been working for this for years and I'm finally there. Lots of excitement and positive thought, and pride in my accomplishment.

Until I got my rejection notification. WHAT?!? Denied?!?

Turns out the points I had thought I was getting according to the USA Cycling website weren't upgrade points. Just points to rank me against other racers in my category. Because I give a crap about that. NO. I don't. So where I thought I had collected 27 of the necessary 25 points, I had only 9. Well, I was a little angry about that. And with good reason. I'm already a Cat 2 for Cyclocross. I'm already a Cat 2 for Track. I'm already a Cat 1 for Mountain biking. Clearly I have the fitness, experience, and pack handling skills to race at a high level. But I haven't finished high enough, consistently enough, to be eligible for an upgrade. Well, that left me a little bit pissed off.

By the time I got to the Butterfly crit, just six days after racing with the pro/semi pro field, I was out for blood. Now at this point, I had never stood at the top of the podium at a road race or a criterium. Second had been my best to date, and third was my best as a Cat 3. I wanted the win. I wanted to prove that I deserved the upgrade I had been denied. And I was going to do it.

Five minutes into the fifty minute race someone attacked off the front. I decided to bridge, so I jumped out of the pack, hoping to bridge the gap and work to stay off. Someone came with me and the two or us made contact and started working with the Berkeley guy that had initiated the break. We had been working together for about fifteen minutes when the guy that had come with me decided to "steal" two primes from us, instead of just working together and sorting out primes later. This is considered very bad form. You don't attack the break until much closer to the end of the race unless you think you can win it solo. You do not steal primes in a break. You take turns winning them and work together to stay away, otherwise you get caught by the group.

So I unleashed a little anger on the guy. I told him if he wanted to be the hero, that's just fine, he could pull us all the way to the finish. He tried to explain that he was "just getting the primes" to which I responded by repeating myself. He pulled. For a lap and a half. And then I attacked.

I launched as soon as he stopped pulling, trying to open up a gap. The Berkeley guy, Neil, came with me. Neil and I continued to work together, keeping the pack at about 30 seconds down, for the remaining 25 minutes or so of the race. Coming into the final lap I knew that Neil was going to attack me, and I figured it would be on the small hill near the end of the less than one mile long lap. Sure enough, that's where he went, but I was ready and I got on his wheel immediately. We rolled across the line, hearing the bell that announces one lap to go, still 30 seconds up on the pack, fans screaming. I knew were I would launch and hoped that my plan would work. Comming out of the second turn, as soon as Neil pulled to the left to let me take my pull I attacked. I sprinted to the third corner, trying to hold him off. I new I had gapped him with my initial attack, but he wasn't far behind. I came out of the final corner and sprinted toward the line. I could feel Neil just barely behind me, hear hims sprinting, felt the burning in my legs as I hurtled toward the line. I shifted up and continued to sprint, felt myself running out of gear, shifted again, Neil still hot in pursuit. The line was drawing closer, the crowd crying out in excitement, I pressed hard on the pedals and found myself flying across the finish line one bike lenght ahead of my competitor, well ahead of the rest of the field. I yelled out in victory, not even a word, just a noise. Part anger, part release, part triumph.

It was almost surreal. My first victory on the road. I have now won on the Track, in Cyclocross, in Cross Country mtb, and on the Road. This victory gave me another five points towards my upgrade. With 14 points racked up I'm only 11 away from Semi pro. On to the next race.

The next race report, or two, really. Memorial Day.

So, this was the race I did on Memorial Day. It was also a crit, and I actually raced twice in one day. The first race was the Elite 3's race.

It was a pretty standard four corner, flat crit at a business park, with a field of almost a hundred railing around the course. I was surprised at how good I felt after having been dropped the day before in Auburn. I was going in breaks, chasing breaks, and feeling good. It was a fun race in that the 3's weren't just waiting for the finish. People were almost constantly attacking and counter attacking. I had fun chatting with some friends in the pack, and when my teammate came to the front with two laps to go I was feeling good. Aaron (my teammate) took a good long hard pull on the front for a lap and a half, trying to string out the group and keep me relatively protected on his wheel so that I would be in a good position to sprint for the win. Well, he died off with about a half a lap to go and the group started swarming toward the front of the pack, so I vied for position, trying to stay near the front as much as possible. I knew if I came around the last turn close to the front I'd have a chance. I came out of the final turn in about 15th place and launched my sprint immediately. I hurtled toward the finish as fast as I could go, but only managed to take 8th. Still, not bad. I hung around for a few then changed clothes and headed to work at the bike shop. We were closing early and I was planning on heading back to the race to do the Pro 1,2,3 race.

I got back with just enough time to warm up for about 20 minutes before the start of the race. There were two paid professionals in the race, one from team BMC, the other from team Bissell. This race was much faster and more aggressive than the first race. The pro/semi pro men are much fitter and more willing to work hard for the win. There were lots of hard, fast attacks with guys trying to break away. I was able to go to the front of the pack and try to help block when one of my Cat 2 teammates was in a break. Then, later in the race, I was able to go to the front and do some chasing to try to help bring back a breakaway that didn't have any of my teammates in it. It was really fun to finally get to use some team tactics! I felt particularly good when one of the Cat 2's complimented my racing, especially when I thought about having raced once already and worked for four hours in between. I wasn't sure at the start if I'd have the fitness to finish, but clearly I wasn't going to have a problem with that. When the final sprint came around no one was off the front, partly thanks to me, but I had spent my legs with my previous efforts and ended up rolling across the line in 74th out of 100. All in all, a pretty fun day. It made me really want to race with the pro/semi pro field. The riding is so much faster, and everyone is riding nearly knuckle to knuckle, and guys will shoot into gaps with total confidence. It's so exciting! It's the way I was taught to race by my coach.

Story time or race report? I think I owe a race report.

So, let's start with the first race I did after getting back from visiting family in Tucson.

It was a criterium, which is a short distance road race, usually around one mile per lap and each group races for a certain amount of time and does as many laps as possible in that much time. This particular crit had a hill in it and several turns, including one hard left hander in the middle of the downhill. Yes, in the middle of the descent you had to suddenly hang a hard left. So the course was technical, especially for a crit, which are usually flat and have four corners. I usually like more technicaly crits with hills because you can't just sit in the pack, soft pedalling, and wait for the sprint, you gotta work.

So this crit, in Auburn, starts and finishes on a hill. Really the start/finish line is just after the start of the hill. Well, you should have some back story, I had spent the last week not riding, eating lots of delicious food with my mom, sister, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins, and only one of the three weeks before that training. A hill was not what I wanted to see with only one week of training in the last three. I figured, either I'd be well rested and feel like superman, or I'd get dropped on the second time up that hill.

After a half hour of warm up I hit the starting line next to my buddy Nate, who happened to be racing with me, feeling happy to be back on my bike and nervous about my fitness. To add to that another racer that knew me, who I couldn't place but liked, started hounding me about having one some big mountainbike race just a couple weeks earlier. Well, I assured him he was mistaken and then the race rolled out.

So, sure enough, after three laps I was feeling pretty good, and I felt like it wasn't going that fast, and it sure would be a good course to go off the front in, so I attacked at the bottom of the hill. Well as I attacked the promoter rang the bell to announce a prime (pronounced preem) lap. For those who don't know what that is, it means the first person across the finish line on the next lap wins a prize. Could be a pair of socks, or $10, or $300, depending on the race. Well, I didn't get off the front in my attack, but I was at the front. Coming around the final turn I was in second wheel and feeling good, so I sprinted for the prime and won it. Yay! Then the rest of the pack jammed past me going up the hill. OUCH! I gave it all I had just to stay in the group of 24 starters that was already whittled down to 18. I fought to stay in for the next eight or so laps before I got dropped from the group.

Well, before the race I had told Nate's girlfriend that if I was off the back, as I now was, that she had to cheer extra loud for me. I told her I'd make it worth while. As I came through the start/finish she held up her end of the bargain and cheered loudly. I had intended to drop out of the race at that point. But I had made a promise. So the next time around I came through swatting at the back end of my bike as if urging on a horse. This got the whole crowd going. So the next time through I did a little breakdance move with my arms as more people began cheering me on to my OTB (off the back) finish. The promoter even stuck out his rump as if he expected me to give it a swat as I came by. At this point I was having lots of fun and getting a great workout. My heartrate maxed out at 196 beats per minute on that course. So, I finished the race, OTB and one lap down, but happy.

The best part, besides having had fun despite poor fitness, was when I went to collect my prime and it turned out to be $50! That was great because it covered all my gas money to and from the race, and little extra.

Well, stay tuned, there are four more race reports that I need to catch up on, and a new one to be remembered after this Sunday. And I'll keep working on that story.